Story
April 8, 2025
Financial Market and Farmers Keep Indigenous Communities out of Their Own Land in the Amazon Rainforest (Portuguese)
Country:
Everybody wants stock market dividends, but are they aware of the destiny of their money?
An English summary of this report is below. The original video report, in Portuguese in O Joio e O Trigo, follows.
Cattle, soybeans, corn, and cotton are the occupants of the Batelão Indigenous Land in Tabaporã, northwestern Mato Grosso in Brazil, where its true owners should be.
The Kawaiweté-Kayabi people were expelled from their ancestral land in the 1960s. Since then, they have tried to return, but have been blocked by farmers—and the financial market.
In the capital market, agribusiness bonds and investment funds provide credit to farmers conducting commercial activities on the Indigenous land, which has already been officially recognized by FUNAI, Brazil's Indigenous affairs office.
And where does this money come from? From investments by individuals and companies who, hidden behind a long and complex financial chain, fuel the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest and threaten communities who live there.
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